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Questions about tank crews


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Couple of questions for you experienced tankers out there:

What ranks generally serve in the various jobs in a tank?

Is the tank commander of every tank an officer, or would an officer only be in the HQ tank in charge of a platoon? Would that be an LT or a higher rank?

Among the other roles in a tank is there a hierarchy? Does a loader move up to be a gunner or driver (or vice versa)?

If the TC gets injured, which member of the team would take over? Who would take over the new TC's former duties?

I understand the roles in a 4-man crew: TC, gunner, loader, driver. Aren't there also 5 or 6 man crews? What do the 5th and 6th crew members do?

Thanks,

Dr. Rosenrosen

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i think that in a basic, wwii-styled 3-man turret that the 3rd crew member is a dedicated loader...thus you have a dedicated gunner and a dedicated commander too... unlike the 2-man turret where the loading, gunning, and commanding was done by 2 people... in both cases there were 2 more dudes in the hull... driver and radioman/mgunner....

if a tank had a 6-man crew or larger it probably had either huge shells (kv-2) or more than one main armament...

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Hi,

In Red Army usually the commander of tank was the Segeant, the driver jr. sergeant, the gunner - gefreitor and the loader - soldier. That is in normal units.

In guard units the ranks were higher and junior leitenant was the tank commander.

All the members of crew have to know the job of his comrades.

Best Regards,

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Hello Doc,

In a modern US tank platoon it is set up like this. (However do to lack of soldiers this is not always the case)

1 Tank (PL)

TC- LT

Gunner - SGT or SSG

Driver - PFC or SPC

Loader - PVT or PFC

2 Tank (PL's Wingman)

TC - SSG (E6)

Gunner - SPC or SGT

Driver - PFC - SPC

Loader - PVT or PFC

3 Tank - (Platoon Sgt's Wingman)

TC - SSG

rest as above

4 Tank - (PLT SGT)

TC - SFC (E7)

rest same as above

When the TC gets killed the Gunner will move to the TC seat. You can fight an M1 with a three man crew (ie shoot from the TC's seat. When you get replacements then you will figure out where the new guy will go based on rank.

Hope this helps

[ March 07, 2003, 07:43 AM: Message edited by: felixgrey ]

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